It’s a sad day for film buffs as legendary critic, Roger Ebert, has passed away at the age of 70. Only yesterday Ebert had announced that his cancer had returned and he would be taking time off to treat it. Ebert leaves behind a legacy that includes being touted as the “most powerful pundit in America”, not to mention his popular film criticism television series, Siskel & Ebert.

Ryan Dunn‘s untimely death yesterday has come as a shock to many. He was involved in a fatal car crash, along with his passenger, after losing control of his Porsche 911. What everyone’s talking about now is how Ryan was drinking before the crash (reports conflict as to how much was alcohol was consumed). Dunn posed for pictures outside the bar he was drinking at with friends, and he did look quite flushed. Reports confirm that he had at least three beers and three shots while there. The autopsy’s currently underway to see whether booze had anything to do with crash or not, but either way, the internet’s already buzzing with both condolences and debate.

One controversy that’s brewing at the moment is due to a tweet by caustic critic Roger Ebert: “Friends don’t let jackasses drink and drive.” The backlash from the comment has been tremendous and none more so than from Dunn’s friend and co-star Bam Margera who tweeted in return, “I just lost my best friend, I have been crying hysterical for a full day and piece of s— roger ebert has the gall to put in his 2 cents”. Bam followed up with another tweet that raged, “About a jackass drunk driving and his is one, f— you! Millions of people are crying right now, shut your fat f—ing mouth!”

Ebert’s been silent since then tweeting about other subjects. The only time he touched upon the subject again was when PerezHilton went at him in a post, to which Ebert wrote back with, “Perez Hilton’s readers agree with me and not with Perez about my tweet on Ryan Dunn. He drank, he drove, 2 people died.” We aren’t fans of Ebert, FYI. We are completely against drinking and driving (and have lost friends because of it), but the fact is that there’s a time and a place to comment. Sounding like a “jackass” right after someone has passed away isn’t the way to go. R.I.P Ryan.

Roger Ebert stopped raising his thumb long enough publish a Q&A in the Sunday Chicago Sun-Times about Creationism, which he claims “should be discussed in schools as an alternative to the theory of evolution.” Is he being incredibly dry, or is this an earnest attempt to push the fundamentalist platform? Here’s a sample:

Q. What about oil and coal, which seem to have been generated from ancient forests millions of years ago?

A. They are evidence of a Great Flood about 4,400 years ago, which laid down all the layers of sediment at once. They are nowhere near as old as evolutionists and archeologists say. A fossil claimed to be 200 million years old, found in Nevada in 1917, shows a shoe print. [See photograph]

The NY Daily Newsreported yesterday that legendary film critic Roger Ebert got hit with a Toronto Film Festival binder by Lou Lumenick of the New York Post after Ebert tried to alert the critic that he was blocking his view at a screening last weekend. Now Ebert’s come forward with his own account.

The movie Slumdog Millionaire had subtitles on the bottom right side of the screen. I was seated in an outboard aisle seat on the right. The person in front of me was leaning over into the aisle, making the subtitles impossible to read. He is not short. Because of neck and shoulder surgery I could not look around him.

In my medical condition I cannot speak, I tapped him lightly on the shoulder, and gestured him to move over a little. He said, “Don’t touch me!” and remained in position. I tapped him lightly again. “I said–don’t touch me!” He leaned further into the aisle, as if making a point of it. I tapped him a third time, and he jumped up and…